National Lawyers Guild - Press Releaseshttps://www.nlg.org/taxonomy/term/20
enDA Drops Death in the Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal https://www.nlg.org/news/releases/da-drops-death-case-mumia-abu-jamal
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<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2011-12-06T19:00:00-05:00">December 6, 2011</span> </div>
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Nathan Tempey </div>
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Communications Coordinator </div>
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212-679-5100 x15 </div>
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<p>The Philadelphia district attorney’s office announced today that it will not seek another death sentence for National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Vice President Mumia Abu-Jamal. Under Pennsylvania law, Mr. Abu-Jamal will now be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.</p>
<p>“While there is overwhelming doubt about what the state claims to be the facts in this case, even those allegations never supported a capital charge,” said Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild. “That it has taken three decades to remove death from the table is astonishing.”</p>
<p>The National Lawyers Guild has long maintained that Mr. Abu-Jamal is entitled to a new and fair trial. Procedural irregularities plagued his case from the outset, including blatant constitutional violations, from the judge allowing the prosecution to admit evidence of his affiliation with the Black Panther Party, in violation of the Supreme Court case <em>Dawson v. Delaware</em>, to the use of a faulty sentencing form that misled jurors during the penalty phase, in violation of the Supreme Court case <em>Mills v. Maryland</em>.</p>
<p>A great deal of relevant evidence has never been reviewed by any court, much less presented to a jury. This evidence includes several photographs of the crime scene which impeach the testimony of a police officer who was a key eyewitness and proof that another individual was present, and fled, the scene of the shooting. Mr. Abu-Jamal was charged at a time when, it was later revealed, there was extensive corruption within the Philadelphia Police Department.</p>
<p>In 1995, then-District Attorney Lynne Abraham promised the city that she would dismiss any case in which there was evidence of police perjury or purposeful misreporting of facts. Given the history of police misconduct in Philadelphia when Abu-Jamal was arrested, and the specific instances of police perjury in his case, the National Lawyers Guild urges current District Attorney Seth Williams to act on his predecessor’s unfulfilled pledge. Mr. Abu-Jamal will be formally resentenced to life without parole in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas. The final sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.</p>
<p>The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 and is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has members in every state.</p>
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Tue, 10 Jun 2014 01:12:06 +0000jamie-import1487 at https://www.nlg.orghttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/da-drops-death-case-mumia-abu-jamal#commentsGuild Attorneys Victorious in Internet Free Speech Casehttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/guild-attorneys-victorious-internet-free-speech-case
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<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2011-07-17T20:00:00-04:00">July 17, 2011</span> </div>
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Jamie Munro </div>
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518-727-6015 </div>
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New York </div>
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<p>In a case with precedential value for internet free speech, National Lawyers Guild members Larry Hildes of Bellingham, Washington, Devin Theriot-Orr of Seattle, and Mark Sniderman of Indiana successfully defended several activists who received subpoenas from Mt. Hope Baptist Church demanding they turn over their internet account records. Federal judge Richard A. Jones ruled that technology collective Riseup.net did not have to turn over the records. Riseup.net provides online communication tools for individuals and groups working for social change.</p>
<p>Mt. Hope Baptist Church subpoenaed the records of several Riseup.net users alleged to have taken part in a 2008 protest. They were members of the queer rights group Bash Back! which disrupted a 2008 Sunday Service at the conservative Mount Hope Church in Lansing, Michigan. Months later, the church and the Alliance Defense Fund, a reactionary Christian nonprofit organization, sued Bash Back! and named 15 activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The church and Alliance Defense Fund subpoenaed identifying information from dozens of emails addresses; Risup.net was the only email provider to challenge the subpoenas.</p>
<p>“This was a major victory for the rights of those engaged in political action or supporting those who are to freely associate safe from the prying eyes of the government, corporations, and fundamentalist churches and law firms. We are proud to have successfully defended this challenge, which is essential to effective political organizing, and proud to have worked with Riseup to do so,” commented Larry Hildes after the victory.
Attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund representing Mt. Hope Baptist Church claimed that the Riseup.net users did not deserve protection because their speech was not “patriotic” free speech.</p>
<p>“To assert that some speech is unpatriotic and therefore unworthy of full First Amendment protection is an affront to this nation’s venerated principles of fostering robust debate,” said NLG Executive Director Heidi Boghosian.</p>
<p>The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.</p>
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Tue, 10 Jun 2014 01:12:06 +0000jamie-import1486 at https://www.nlg.orghttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/guild-attorneys-victorious-internet-free-speech-case#commentsNLG Mourns Passing of Debra Evensonhttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/nlg-mourns-passing-debra-evenson
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<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2011-08-16T20:00:00-04:00">August 16, 2011</span> </div>
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Nathan Tempey </div>
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Communications Coordinator </div>
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<a href="mailto:"></a> </div>
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212-679-5100 x15 </div>
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New York: </div>
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<p>The National Lawyers Guild mourns the passing of its former president, Debra Evenson. One of the nation’s foremost authorities on the legal system and institutions of Cuba, Ms. Evenson was Of Counsel with the law firm Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky &amp; Lieberman, P.C.</p>
<p>“For 20 years, Debra was key to our legal defense of Cuban sovereignty,” said Michael Krinsky, a partner at Rabinowitz Boudin. “That so many in Havana, and such a diverse group of people – high government officials and ordinary workers, intellectuals and artists, academics and lawyers – deeply mourn her passing as a personal loss is testament to Debra’s great integrity, contributions, and humanity,” he continued.</p>
<p>During the McCarthy era, Guild membership dwindled to a few hundred. Ms Evenson was part of the generation of young lawyers and law students that revived it in the late 60s and early 70s, combining political passion to combat injustice and exploitation with outstanding legal skills. She spent much of her life as a professor, teaching later generations both skill and passion.</p>
<p>Debra Evenson was co-founder and executive director of the Center for Inter-American Legal Education, a U.S. not-for-profit educational foundation dedicated to educational exchanges between U.S. lawyers and legal scholars and their counterparts in Latin America. She was involved in the founding of the Sugar Law Center in Detroit and served on its board of directors. For the last three years, she taught a course on the Cuban legal system at Rutgers University Law School-Camden. She was Associate Professor of Law at DePaul University College of Law from 1980 to 1992 where she taught Intellectual Property and Comparative International Law. Prior to joining the faculty at DePaul, she was an associate in the litigation department of Wilkie, Farr and Gallagher (1976-1979). She graduated from Rutgers Law School in 1976, and from Barnard College in 1964.</p>
<p>From 1996-2001, Ms. Evenson was president of the Latin American Institute for Alternative Legal Services (ILSA) headquartered in Bogota, Columbia. During her tenure as president, ILSA organized important conferences related to legal services and human rights in Latin America, Asia and Africa and expanded its collaboration with human rights lawyers in Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean. Ms. Evenson was president of the National Lawyers Guild from 1988-1991.</p>
<p>“Our loss is immeasurable but we take comfort in knowing that she left behind so many others to carry on her mission,” said David Gespass, President of the National Lawyers Guild.</p>
<p>The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.</p>
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Tue, 10 Jun 2014 01:12:06 +0000jamie-import1485 at https://www.nlg.orghttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/nlg-mourns-passing-debra-evenson#commentsNLG Urges City of Orlando to Repeal Ordinance Restricting Food Sharinghttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/nlg-urges-city-orlando-repeal-ordinance-restricting-food-sharing
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<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2011-06-30T20:00:00-04:00">June 30, 2011</span> </div>
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Heidi Boghosian </div>
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Executive Director </div>
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<a href="mailto:"></a> </div>
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<p><strong> </strong>The National Lawyers Guild calls on the City of Orlando, Florida to repeal its 2006 ordinance limiting groups feeding more than 25 people in parks to two permitted events a year. The Guild also urges Fort Lauderdale and other Florida municipalities to refrain from adopting similar ordinances.</p>
<p>The volunteer-run organization, Food Not Bombs (FNB) serves free meals to the homeless across the country and has been providing free food in Orlando’s public parks for years. In June, more than 20 members were arrested for serving meals to the needy in that city. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer called FNB members “food terrorists,” accusing them of having “different purposes” than helping the homeless.</p>
<p>“By applying the label ‘terrorist’ to people trying to feed the hungry, Mayor Dyer distorts what Food Not Bombs is doing in an attempt to demonize its members. Invoking the term ‘terrorist’ affords the government wide latitude to spy on activists, to improperly subpoena them, and to threaten increased penalties for their humanitarian endeavors. Such mislabeling imperils all of our First Amendment rights,” says NLG Executive Director Heidi Boghosian.</p>
<p>Food Not Bombs, founded 30 years ago, has long been targeted by the government. In February 2011, police in Fort Lauderdale twice raided a home shared by local FNB activists. The Guild has successfully defended other FNB chapters. Last year officials in Middletown, Connecticut attempted to shut down a local chapter because the group lacked a license. After FNB, represented by Guild attorneys, sued, the Connecticut Attorney General (now US Senator) Richard Blumenthal changed the state's law to accommodate food sharing.</p>
<p>Founded in 1937, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.</p>
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Tue, 10 Jun 2014 01:12:06 +0000jamie-import1484 at https://www.nlg.orghttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/nlg-urges-city-orlando-repeal-ordinance-restricting-food-sharing#commentsNational Lawyers Guild Launches Support Site for Hacktivistshttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/national-lawyers-guild-launches-support-site-hacktivists
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<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2011-07-31T20:00:00-04:00">July 31, 2011</span> </div>
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Jamie Munro </div>
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National Office Staff </div>
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<a href="mailto:"></a> </div>
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212-679-5100 x12 </div>
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<p>The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) provides legal defense and educational resources to activists who are being targeted as part of the ‘Nerd Scare,’ including individuals alleged to be affiliated with “Anonymous,” LulzSec, and other activists and hacker collectives. The NLG has launched a website, <a href="http://www.anonlg.com/">www</a><a href="http://www.anonlg.com/">.</a><a href="http://www.anonlg.com/">anonlg</a><a href="http://www.anonlg.com/">.</a><a href="http://www.anonlg.com/">com</a>, with Know Your Rights information tailored to individuals subjected to recent U.S. Department of Justice arrests, searches, seizures, harassment, and grand jury subpoenas as part of the FBI’s “Cyber Crimes” operations. Activists who have already been targeted or are concerned about their safety may call a Guild hotline—888-NLG-DANK—or access the organization by email at <a href="mailto:help@anonlg.com">help@anonlg.com</a>. National Lawyers Guild lawyers, in their continuing efforts to protect the right to dissent, are coordinating legal defense for many of these activists. “The Defense Department's plan to treat cyberspace as an operational domain, equipping forces for cyber missions, virtually guarantees that computer activists will face increasing government scrutiny. Anonlg.com provides Know Your Rights information for those with advanced computer skills who lack experience dealing with the FBI," said Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild. The NLG advises anyone visited by the FBI to assert the right not to answer any questions, to get the agent’s business card and to state clearly and unequivocally that they will have an attorney contact the agent on their behalf. The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.</p>
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Tue, 10 Jun 2014 01:12:06 +0000jamie-import1483 at https://www.nlg.orghttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/national-lawyers-guild-launches-support-site-hacktivists#commentsNLG Demands Immediate Release of Attorney Peter Erlinderhttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/nlg-demands-immediate-release-attorney-peter-erlinder
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<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2010-05-27T20:00:00-04:00">May 27, 2010</span> </div>
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Heidi Boghosian </div>
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Executive Director </div>
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<a href="mailto:"></a> </div>
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New York </div>
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<p>The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) demands the immediate release of its former president, Professor Peter Erlinder, whom Rwandan Police arrested early today on charges of “genocide ideology.” He had traveled to Rwanda's capital, Kigali, on May 23, to join the defense team of Rwandan presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza. Erlinder is reportedly being interrogated at the Rwandan Police Force’s Kacyiru headquarters.</p>
<p>“Professor Erlinder has been acting in the best tradition of the legal profession and has been a vigorous advocate in his representation of Umuhoza. There can be no justice for anyone if the state can silence lawyers for defendants whom it dislikes and a government that seeks to prevent lawyers from being vigorous advocates for their clients cannot be trusted. The entire National Lawyers Guild is honored by his membership and his courageous advocacy,” said David Gespass, the Guild’s president.</p>
<p>Erlinder traveled to Kigali after attending the Second International Criminal Defense Lawyers' Conference in Brussels. Since his arrival in Kigali, the state-sponsored Rwandan media has been highly critical of Erlinder.</p>
<p>The Rwandan Parliament adopted the “Law Relating to the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Ideology” (Genocide Ideology Law), on July 23, 2008. It defines genocide ideology broadly, requires no link to any genocidal act, and can be used to include a wide range of legitimate forms of expression, prohibiting speech protected by international conventions such as the Genocide Convention of 1948 and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966.</p>
<p>Sarah Erlinder, Arizona attorney and NLG member said, “My father has made a career defending unpopular people and unpopular speech—and is now being held because of his representation of unpopular clients and analysis of an historical narrative that the Kagame regime considers inconvenient. We can help defend his rights now by drawing U.S. government and media attention to his situation and holding the Rwandan government accountable for his well-being.”</p>
<p>Before leaving for Brussels and then Kigali, Professor Erlinder notified the U.S. State Department, his Minnesota Congressional Representative Betty McCullom, Representative Keith Ellison, and Minnesota Senators Al Franken and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.</p>
<p>Professor Erlinder is a professor of law at the William Mitchell College of Law. He is a frequent litigator and consultant, often pro bono, in cases involving the death penalty, civil rights, claims of government and police misconduct, and criminal defense of political activists. He is also a frequent news commentator. Erlinder was president of the National Lawyers Guild from 1993-1997, and is a current board member of the NLG Foundation. He has been a defense attorney at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda since 2003.</p>
<p>The National Lawyers Guild, founded in 1937, is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.</p>
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Tue, 10 Jun 2014 01:12:06 +0000jamie-import1482 at https://www.nlg.orghttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/nlg-demands-immediate-release-attorney-peter-erlinder#commentsIn Wake of New Marijuana Laws, NLG Report Contrasts Legalization Strategies and Obstacleshttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/wake-new-marijuana-laws-nlg-report-contrasts-legalization-strategies-and-obstacles
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<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.nlg.org/sites/default/files/styles/full_node/public/highgavel.jpg?itok=qdOmydC9" width="400" height="268" alt="" /> </div>
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<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2013-06-25T14:00:00-04:00">June 25, 2013</span> </div>
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Traci Yoder </div>
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Senior Researcher </div>
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<a href="mailto:traci@nlg.org">traci@nlg.org</a> </div>
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(212) 679-5100, ext. 12 </div>
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New York, NY </div>
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<div><span style="line-height: 1.46667em;">In November 2012, Washington and Colorado became the first states—and the first jurisdictions in the world—to legalize the possession, use, and regulated distribution of marijuana. </span></div>
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<div><span style="line-height: 1.46667em;">Although Attorney General Eric Holder promised in March 2013 to announce a Department of Justice policy to address the state initiatives, the White House has yet to take a position. This shifting legal terrain is the subject of “</span><a href="//www.nlg.org/high-crimes-strategies-further-marijuana-legalization-initiatives" style="line-height: 1.46667em;" target="_blank"><strong>High Crimes: Strategies to Further Marijuana Legalization Initiatives</strong></a><span style="line-height: 1.46667em;">,” a new report by the National Lawyers Guild (NLG).</span></div>
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<div>The NLG report analyzes the legalization process under way in the states, suggests strategies to further marijuana legalization initiatives, and highlights current obstacles to ending prohibition. Among the NLG recommendations: reframe drug use as a public health issue rather than a criminal justice problem, challenge the punitive international drug policy framework, support states’ rights to regulate marijuana use, and reclassify marijuana to allow for medical research. </div>
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<div>“<a href="//www.nlg.org/high-crimes-strategies-further-marijuana-legalization-initiatives" target="_blank"><strong>High Crimes</strong></a>” also calls attention to the role of law enforcement agencies and private prison industry interventions in the field of US drug policy. “It is crucial to examine who profits from the continued prohibition of marijuana,” said <a href="//www.nlg.org/node/795" target="_blank">NLG Senior Researcher Traci Yoder</a>, the report’s author. “The increasing militarization of police forces is funded through property and financial seizures during drug arrests. Continued profit making by private corrections corporations is contingent upon ever-increasing rates of incarceration.”</div>
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<div>As the nation waits for a response from the White House, the NLG joins other organizations and individuals in calling for the end to marijuana prohibition. “Marijuana legalization will create new jobs, generate millions of dollars in tax revenue, and allow law enforcement to focus on serious crimes,” said Brian Vicente, NLG member and one of the primary authors of Colorado’s legalization amendment. “It would be a travesty if the Obama administration used its power to impose marijuana prohibition upon a state whose people have declared, through the democratic process, that they want it to end.”</div>
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<div>The report, “<a href="//www.nlg.org/high-crimes-strategies-further-marijuana-legalization-initiatives" target="_blank"><strong>High Crimes: Strategies to Further Marijuana Legalization Initiatives</strong></a>,” can be accessed on the NLG website at <a href="//www.nlg.org/">www.nlg.org</a>.</div>
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<div><em>The National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has members in every state. </em></div>
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<div><em><span style="line-height: 1.46667em;">(Image Source: </span><a href="http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2013/01/11/arizona-ruling-orders-return-of-medical-marijuana/" style="line-height: 1.46667em;">http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2013/01/11/arizona-ruling-orders-return-of-medical-marijuana/</a><span style="line-height: 1.46667em;">)</span></em></div>
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Tue, 25 Jun 2013 18:19:28 +0000Traci924 at https://www.nlg.orghttps://www.nlg.org/news/releases/wake-new-marijuana-laws-nlg-report-contrasts-legalization-strategies-and-obstacles#commentsCourt rules peace activists can sue the U.S. military for infiltrationhttps://www.nlg.org/news/court-rules-peace-activists-can-sue-us-military-infiltration
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<img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.nlg.org/sites/default/files/styles/full_node/public/John%20Towery.jpg?itok=_7Y39QFE" width="400" height="257" alt="" /> </div>
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<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2012-12-18T12:15:00-05:00">December 18, 2012</span> </div>
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Nathan Tempey </div>
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Communications Coordinator </div>
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<a href="mailto:communications@nlg.org">communications@nlg.org</a> </div>
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(212) 679-5100, ext. 15 </div>
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New York </div>
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<p><em>Guild lawyer hails historic decision</em></p>
<p>In a potentially precedent-setting decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals <a href="http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/memoranda/2012/12/17/11-35527.pdf">ruled</a> <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2012/12/18/headlines#121810">Monday</a> that a Guild lawyer’s challenge to military spying on peace activists can proceed. The ruling marks the first time a court has affirmed people’s ability to sue the military for violating their First and Fourth Amendment rights.</p>
<p>“This has never been done before,” said NLG member attorney Larry Hildes, who is handling the case. “The U.S. government has spied on political dissidents throughout history and this particular plot lasted through two presidencies, but never before has a court said that we can challenge it the way we have.”</p>
<p>The ruling is the latest development in the lawsuit, <em>Panagacos v. Towery</em>, first brought by Hildes in 2009 on behalf of a group of Washington state antiwar activists who found themselves infiltrated by John Towery, an employee at a fusion center inside a local Army base. Fusion centers are multi-jurisdictional intelligence facilities which house federal and local law enforcement agencies alongside military units and private security companies. Their operations are largely <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/10/infiltrating_occupy_austin_activists_face_charges">secret</a> and <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/28/broadcast_exclusive_declassified_docs_reveal_military">unregulated</a>. There are currently <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/fusion-center-locations-and-contact-information">77 fusion centers</a> in the United States.</p>
<p>The lawsuit names Towery as well as the Army, Navy, Air Force, FBI, CIA, Department of Homeland Security, and other law enforcement agencies. For at least two years, Towery posed as an activist with the antiwar group Port Militarization Resistance (PMR), a group that sought to oppose the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through civil disobedience. The infiltration came to light when public records requests filed with the City of Olympia unearthed documents detailing an expansive surveillance operation. In addition to PMR, Towery targeted Students for a Democratic Society, the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, the Industrial Workers of the World, Iraq Veterans Against the War, an anarchist bookstore in Tacoma, and other activist groups.</p>
<p>The latest ruling denies the government’s appeal on the basis that the allegations of First and Fourth Amendment violations carried out by Towery are “plausible.” His lawyers have until December 31 to appeal the decision. If they do not appeal, the case will return to district court and the discovery phase will begin.</p>
<p>The National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has members in every state.</p>
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<span class="file"><img class="file-icon" alt="" title="application/pdf" src="/modules/file/icons/application-pdf.png" /> <a href="https://www.nlg.org/sites/default/files/9th%20Circuit%20Deicsion%20affirming%20denial%20of%2012%28b%29%286%29-Iqbal.pdf" type="application/pdf; length=30193">9th Circuit Deicsion affirming denial of 12(b)(6)-Iqbal.pdf</a></span> </div>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/210" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">John Towery</a> </div>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/213" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Panagacos</a> </div>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/110" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">domestic spying</a> </div>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/212" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">fusion centers</a> </div>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/20" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Press Releases</a> </div>
Tue, 18 Dec 2012 18:52:05 +0000Tasha799 at https://www.nlg.orghttps://www.nlg.org/news/court-rules-peace-activists-can-sue-us-military-infiltration#comments National Lawyers Guild Warns Tampa Rash RNC Ordinance Could Cost the City Millionshttps://www.nlg.org/news/national-lawyers-guild-warns-tampa-rash-rnc-ordinance-could-cost-city-millions
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<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2012-04-04T20:00:00-04:00">April 4, 2012</span> </div>
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Nathan Tempey </div>
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Communications Coordinator </div>
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<a href="mailto:"></a> </div>
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(212) 679-5100, ext. 15 </div>
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New York </div>
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<p>In <a href="//www.nlg.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/NLG-comments-on-Tampa-RNC-ordinance-4-5-12.pdf">comments</a> submitted to the Tampa City Council this morning, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) harshly criticized a <a href="http://tampagov.net/pao/RNC%20Temporary%20Ordinance/20120328_RNCTemporaryOrdinance.pdf">proposed ordinance</a> that would drastically and unconstitutionally restrict protests at this year’s Republican National Convention.</p>
<p>“You would think, given all the disastrous outcomes of past conventions, that Tampa would try to do something differently,” said NLG Executive Director Heidi Boghosian. “Instead, the city is on course to recreate the worst abuses, which will not only hurt protesters and Tampa residents, but could ultimately scar the city’s reputation and drain its pocketbook.”</p>
<p>The proposed ordinance creates arbitrary permit requirements, establishes what it calls a “Clean Zone,” and lays out a militaristic view of crowd control. Taken together, its provisions set the stage for violent police action against peaceful protesters and bystanders.</p>
<p>The NLG’s comments on the ordinance state: “We hope that the City of Tampa will take seriously our belief that police overreaction and the curtailment of First Amendment activities are not needed to ensure the safety of event participants.”</p>
<p>Over the past decade, NLG lawsuits have successfully challenged police abuses stemming from similar ordinances, bringing hangovers to hot-tempered host cities in the form of costly litigation and multi-million dollar settlements. Most recently, <a href="//www.nlg.org/news/press-releases/nlg-reaches-6-2-million-settlement-in-class-action-against-chicago-police/">the City of Chicago agreed to pay out $6.2 million</a> to hundreds of protesters falsely arrested during a 2003 anti-Iraq War protest. Settlements from protest lawsuits since the 1999 Seattle World Trade Organization conference total nearly $60 million.</p>
<p>The NLG will also be representing protesters at the May NATO meeting in Chicago, and the September Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Both cities also recently adopted restrictive anti-protest ordinances. The 2012 Republican National Convention is scheduled to take place August 27-30 in downtown Tampa.</p>
<p>The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 and is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.</p>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/20" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Press Releases</a> </div>
Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:10:33 +0000Tasha596 at https://www.nlg.orghttps://www.nlg.org/news/national-lawyers-guild-warns-tampa-rash-rnc-ordinance-could-cost-city-millions#commentsNational Lawyers Guild Honors Ailing Cuban Lawyer, Urges Obama Administration to Permit Cuban Five Brother Visithttps://www.nlg.org/news/national-lawyers-guild-honors-ailing-cuban-lawyer-urges-obama-administration-permit-cuban-five
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<span class="date-display-single" property="dc:date" datatype="xsd:dateTime" content="2012-03-11T20:00:00-04:00">March 11, 2012</span> </div>
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Nathan Tempey </div>
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Communications Coordinator </div>
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<a href="mailto:"></a> </div>
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(212) 679-5100, ext. 15 </div>
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New York </div>
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<p>The National Lawyers Guild made Cuban lawyer Roberto González an honorary member today in recognition of his contributions as a human rights defender and, in particular, his efforts in the case of the Cuban Five.</p>
<p>“Roberto’s career and his steadfast support of his brother are emblematic of the Guild’s basic principle that human rights are more sacred than property interests. We are proud to count him in our numbers,” said NLG Executive Director Heidi Boghosian.</p>
<p>Roberto González is a member of the legal team representing the Cuban Five, a group of political prisoners which includes his brother, René González, who was released five months ago after over 13 years in prison. Since his release, René González has been forced to serve time on probation in the United States rather than being allowed to return home to Cuba, despite the fact that Roberto, his only sibling, is gravely ill with cancer in a Havana hospital. René González recently petitioned the court to allow him to return to Cuba for two weeks to visit his brother.</p>
<p>The NLG calls on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to show the compassion that has been so lacking from U.S. relations with Cuba by allowing his immediate return for at least those two weeks.</p>
<p>Over the course of the trial and imprisonment of the Cuban Five, the Guild filed three <em>amicus</em> briefs in support of efforts to have their convictions reversed. The most recent, filed in 2009, was one of a record number of 12 <em>amicus</em> briefs urging the Supreme Court to review the convictions. The Guild’s brief focused on the prosecution's biased method of eliminating prospective jurors, in violation of the seminal ruling in the case of <em>Batson v. Kentucky</em>. This violation of due process was exacerbated by the overwhelming hostility to the Cuban government in Miami and the charged political atmosphere surrounding the case, which made finding an impartial jury locally virtually impossible.</p>
<p>For more information on the case of the Cuban Five visit <a href="http://www.freethefive.org/">http://www.freethefive.org/</a>.</p>
<p>The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 and is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.</p>
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<a href="/taxonomy/term/20" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Press Releases</a> </div>
Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:09:12 +0000Tasha591 at https://www.nlg.orghttps://www.nlg.org/news/national-lawyers-guild-honors-ailing-cuban-lawyer-urges-obama-administration-permit-cuban-five#comments